| e-Mission Lines August 2012 |
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Touching Haiti with the love of Christ |
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The Best Convention Ever
by Etienne Prophete
While the convention officially began on Thursday, a pre-convention service was held Wednesday evening for the local congregation. The next day, the country and city churches poured in. Incredible! A mad house. People were all over the place. Feeding and lodging became a concern. That was expected though. Betty went to town to buy extra mattresses. The builders under the direction of Kerby worked night and day to bring our new residential building up to par. Done!
The convention coordinators, Thomas, Alabre and Lunel, took stock of what to do. People arrived on trucks, on donkeys and on foot in need of rest and food. Mrs. Monace, the head cook, took control. A spaghetti meal made for easy preparation. Good night!
Boss Charles gathered his building crew and worked on the stand to be used as the stage. There is not room inside any of the buildings to contain the crowd. Edwens, Brousseau, Dorlus, Dieudon and several others worked on logistics. While preparations got under the way, the hospital remained in full activity under Dr. Alan Buchele, surgeon, and Dr. Cheryl Fogarty, gynecologist, both from Joplin, Missouri along with our own obstetrician, Dr. Maxene Cenatus. Several operations were performed to the benefit of the sick. One should see the smiles expressing the joy of the patients while lying in recovery. Cheers!
 A group of young people led by Pastor and Mrs. Raimy Juliet joined us from Curacao, an island off the coast of Venzuela. They were like a host of angelic beings dropped down from heaven. Their maturity showed in their prayers every morning, their  singing at the services, their witnessing at every opportunity, and the vibrant messages of Pastor Raimy that brought over two hundred people to the altar for new commitments. Praises!
During this convention there were 43 baptisms, 23 weddings and who knows how many commitments of their lives to Christ done in secret. The crowd could be estimated at over 3,000. The meetings were held outdoors. The temperature was pleasant and the rain was merciful. What a convention! The best ever! We thank God!
With the KINGDOM in mind, the best is yet to come.
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What a Wedding Ceremony!
By Etienne Prophete
During the 2012 convention, twenty-three couples were married in one grand ceremony. This activity takes place every year at the convention time. People that cannot afford to get married at a date of their choice, seize this opportunity at the convention time.
In Haiti, living out of wedlock is considered to be living in sin. The couples who come to be married have been living together, but want to make it right with God. Their churches encourage them. Betty is a pusher to that end. Wedding dresses were brought by visiting missionaries from the United States; others were donated locally. The mission bought the rings and organized the reception consisting in food, cake and drink. The rings are exchanged couple after couple, but the prayers are given and the vows are exchanged in common. According to general beliefs, those couples that were stranded out of the blessing of marriage can now enjoy the sanctity of being baptized and of taking communion. Their conscience is clear and they feel free. The society looks up to them and the church honors them. The convention means a lot to those married couples. To them marriage means freedom from sin.
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HCM Pastor Training Continues
By Etienne Prophete
The pastors' training with the support of Bethel Church continues without ceasing. This time it was under Pastors Etienne Prophete, Jonas Dorlus and Rosicler Maurice. The participation of the attendees was active and entertaining. They enjoyed the training, never wanting to stop. Jonas Dorlus, the coordinator of the workshops and Director of Evangelism for the mission, did a good job setting up the program. We started at nine o'clock in the morning and stopped at four o'clock in the afternoon with three short breaks for lunch and rest. The cooks were on time with serving so we wasted no time waiting for the meal.
The book Meet My Friend the Holy Spirit by Dr. Alger Fitch was studied from the first to the last page with a ferocious appetite in study groups, lecture, and question and answer times. The participation was total and inclusive. Pastor Daniel said, "The instruction we receive in this workshop will provide a new avenue for our churches." Pastor Brousseau added, "It is time for the mission to start a Bible College." The thirty-six pastors who attended came prepared as they had read the book prior to the seminar. It was easy to help them to understand it. At the end of the seminar, we delivered a certificate to the attendees and they went home to teach what they were taught. Then it was time for the tired teachers to rest after three days of intense teaching. We thank Bethel Church for providing the funds to feed the pastors and purchase the books.
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My Internship at HCM
By Brennan Fogas
(Excerpts from a letter he sent his supporters)
Before I go into the details of my trip I will share with you a little bit about what my role is here in Haiti. I have been given the responsibility of coordinating various missionary teams that come to serve with HCM. I also have the opportunity to join the teams throughout their time here doing VBS, medical work, construction or clothing and food distributions. I was also put in charge of a church building project in a small town called Meyer. I hope to have the church completed within the next two weeks so that they can start having services in it very soon. I have watched the church transform from a plot of land, to a worksite, to a skeletal structure, to a nearly completed church and have been blessed in every step of the way. For a 3-week period I was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the mission as well as the finances and the scheduling. While this presented its own challenges, I learned a lot from this experience. The Lord has opened my eyes to many new experiences since being here and given me many challenges, but also the resources to complete them.
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 Since being at HCM the Lord has been testing me as well as blessing me. Some of the things I have seen since I have been here have been devastating; malnourished children with no access to food and clean water, accident victims with no access to appropriate medical care, and people with chronic sicknesses that can easily be cured in the states who, yet again, don't have access to these things. One night I was in the clinic and as I was walking through I went into a room where a husband and wife had been staying for the past few days. For the past few hours the man had not left his wife's bed side and I would walk in every now and then and the translator would tell me that he was telling his wife that he loved her and trying to encourage her. The woman was in the bed and had been struggling to breathe over the couple of days that she was there. That night she had taken a turn for the worst and was in desperate need of a ventilator treatment. A treatment that one could easily get in the United States would have extended this woman's life and possibly saved it. As they prepared to transport her to Port-Au-Prince, she struggled to take her last breaths and passed away. As the woman began to pass, the man leaned in and whispered, "Mwen Renmen Ou" which, in Creole means, "I Love You", and for the first time in about three days I saw a smile on the woman's face. Hours before this happened one of the pastors that was on the team that was here began talking with her and discussing her salvation. I do not know whether or not she was saved, but I do know that she left a husband here and that the Lord would be with him to comfort him. When this happened and as I processed it I was reminded about the frailty of life. We do not know when our time will end. I was reminded that no matter what I am called to love (John 13:34). Yes, it can be difficult to love at times with family members, friends and enemies, but I was reminded that love can conquer all. Even in the midst of this tragedy, there was joy in the love that these two people had.
 I thought I knew everything there was to know about Haiti when I arrived and like I said, that was turned upside down when I got here. There have been many difficult times since I have been here, but the amount of blessings that have come from my trip exponentially outnumber the difficulties. One area that the Lord has truly blessed me is in my experiences with the children of Haiti. The children of Haiti are going to be the ones that bring the change that the country needs to rise up from its current state. The joy that the children have is absolutely incredible to me. What's even more incredible to me is the thirst and the longing that these children have to have and maintain an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It does not matter what types of material things these kids may or may not have; what is most important to them is a relationship with our Savior. I never thought that I would grow close to as many young children as I have. Part of that is because people say if you want to learn Creole that the children are the best teachers. I must not be a very good student because my Creole is still pretty weak.
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 Anyways, I have grown close to many of the children here. Children in the daycare, children in the orphanage, children who have parents that work here, children that go to school here, children in surrounding villages and children who have no home, but the one thing that is constant no matter the surrounding circumstances, is that they all have an incredible longing for a deeper relationship with the Lord. Even the youngest of children has made an impact of me. A sweet little 16-month-old who goes by Gigi has blessed me beyond words. She has ten older brothers and sisters and she always reminds me to have a child-like faith. No matter what is going on, if she sees one of her older brothers or sisters doing something she is soon to follow. I am constantly reminded when I see her to have that kind of Faith in our Heavenly Father in ALL circumstances because he has control and he knows what is best for me; even when I think I may know. * * *
The blessings I have received since being here in Haiti have blown me away. The ones listed above have just been a few. If I had to write down everything I have experienced since being here I would write a novel and sell it for $9.99. I want to thank you once again for your support and I pray that as I return home and get back into my routines and schedules that I do not forget what has happened here. I know that I won't because a life change is not merely forgotten. I look forward to seeing you once again and we can talk more about the incredible work God is doing here in Haiti.
God Bless, Brennan |
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Ways You Can Pray
For all of our students and teachers as they begin another year of school, that they will all work to do their very best.
For all the people that are sure to be affected by Tropical Storm Isaac this weekend. In Haiti, heavy rain causes dangerous mudslides and flash floods. The thousands of people displaced by the earthquake and still living in tents can do very little to prepare for it.
That a benefit auction dinner being planned for October in Stayton, Oregon will be a success.
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